Tarja - wywiad we Francji 2010

Papilon

I: At the beginning of the album, in the song Anteroom of Death, you can hear the harmonizing sound of violins. Just before that, we heard an orchestra. The album also ends very bombastic. The rest of the album is very modern due to some certain riffs and sounds. Are these few classical parts to remember where you come from?

T: Of course, it’s a big part of me and it’s always very important for me as an artist. Classical music and Metal fulfill me and it’d be very hard to choose between those genres. It’s the sound of my life. My new album is sort of a journey. During the last two years I made a journey through all my musical experiences. I tried to realize which direction to take with this album. It features Metal-, Rock- and Classical elements as well as a lot of emotions - All the things I love.

I: So that’s actually a summary of your influences, right?

T: Yes, of course.

I: It’s very surprising that the album contains some heavy riffs and even some grunts in Dark Star. Some years ago, you’ve made clear that extreme metal isn’t really your cup of tea. Did you eventually change your mind?

T: My album has nothing to do with extreme metal. [laughs] When you listen to the songs, you see that they’re actually quite different from Metal. My album contains some metal-ish elements but it’s not a metal album. But yes, I still listen to extreme metal albums. Slipknot is one of the few violent groups that I like and admire. But my own music is very different, it deviates from normality, if I can say it like that.

I: Was it you who composed those heavy tracks like Little Lies and Dark Star?

T: Yes, I did. Some are composed on my own and some are composed together with collaborators.

I: On your new album you did a cover of Still Of The Night by Whitesnake and you also have covered Poison by Alice Cooper some time ago. Will this become a tradition for your upcoming albums? Any ideas what song you could cover next?

T: It’s very difficult to decide to do a cover but it’s always nice to do so. Why covering hard rock? For me, it’s like a journey to the past, I was seven and my brother liked this music. Therefore, I also became interested. It was very difficult to cover those titles. When you do a cover, you know that you can’t be better than the original. The reason why I decided to do a cover was the desire to interpret the song in a completely different way. Poison and SOTN originally have male vocals, so it’s completely different when I sing them. I’ve always said that if I covered SOTN, I’d add an orchestral arrangement and choirs. The record is nice, I’m content with the way it turned out.

I: But I was actually asking if it will become a tradition?

T: No, I don’t think so. I can’t think of that now, maybe the new album won’t contain any cover, you never know. I felt like doing a cover, it’s what I wanted to do and maybe next time … I don’t know. [laughs]